Story title: Next time don't look down!

Author: RandomBabbling

Chapter: 6. 'Whose idea was this, anyway?'

Rating: PG-13 for mild cussing and some sweet sweet Slash!

Homophobes, turn round and head for the door, if you don't like it don't read it! *glares*

Plot: Harry challenges Draco to a race. Draco falls off his broom. Slash is beginning to creep into the plot, and how are our two yummy boys going to get out of this one?

Pairings: Harry/Draco (YAY 4 HP/DM!)

*A/N* I don't own them so don't sue! If ya even try, I'll hex you, ya muggle!
Ummm...I kinda nicked a paragraph or two from Animorphs book number 19 - The Departure. I don't own that either, but I thought it would fit nicely in here so I used it, changing a few bits and pieces here and there...

This chapter is dedicated to Doodle Bug, for helping me with these oh-so-important scenes...Thnx sis! *waves*

K, peeps, listen up, this chapter has ACTUAL SLASH! WAHEY!

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Chapter 6: Whose idea was this anyway?

***

Harry felt rough branches scrape at his back and shoulders, the impact ripping the two boys from eachother's grasp. He felt the branches hitting his falling body, tearing his robes... Then he hit the ground and everything turned black.

---

Harry groaned. His back hurt.
In fact, so did his head...and his legs...and more-or-less everything.
'Owwww....'
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
He suddenly became aware that someone was screaming, and - by the sound of it - probably had been for a long time.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! OH SHIT!!! OH SHIT!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
He opened his eyes slowly. He was lying on his back in a bush covered in bright blue berries.
He looked up, dazed. The branches and bushes must have broken his fall. He wondered vaugely if Draco was OK, not really 100% conscious yet.
Harry turned his head to the side, groaning again, and had to bite his tongue to stop himself crying out in shock.
Draco was lying on his back on the wet muddy ground, frozen in absolute terror. His silver eyes were wide with fear, and for good reason.
A furry black Spider the size of a dinner-plate was crawling up Draco's right leg, it's shiny black pincers clicking menacingly as it crawled onto Draco's stomach.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
Tears of pure, mind-numbing fear were trickling down his cheeks, which had drained from mildly-pale to almost pure white.
Harry jumped up, relieved to find that nothing was broken after the 60ft drop, and grabbed onto a nearby branch that had helped break his fall.
"Hold on, Draco! I'll save you!" Harry yelled, waving the branch over his head as he aimed for the Spider, which was now only a few inches from Draco's face.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
*SWISH*
*SMACK*
*SPLAT*
Harry swung the branch, missed Draco by inches, and catapulted the baby Acromantula several metres into the air. It landed with a splat against a large Oak tree, where it lay dazed for a moment before scuttling off.
He looked down at Draco, who still looked absolutely terrified, and - for some unknown reason - was still screaming.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
"Draco? Draco, are you OK? It's gone now, the Spider's gone."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
"Oh, brother..."
Harry knelt down beside Draco and pulled him into a tight embrace, stroking his hair and comforting him until his screaming turned to soft, quiet sobbing.
"Ssssshhhhh, it's OK, Draco... It's gone now, and if it comes back I'll hit it again, I promise. I'm here, I won't let anything hurt you."
Draco looked up into Harry's eyes, tear tracks still plainly visible on his cheeks, "You..You saved me...Again..."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, I guess I did."
Draco bit his lip, as though wondering whether or not to say something.
"..."
Draco continued to stare at Harry, then - as though finally deciding what to do - he said;
"Harry?"
"No, no, you don't need to thank me, Draco.." Harry began.
Draco looked insulted. "Thank you? THANK YOU? Gods, no! I was just going to remind you that THIS is all YOUR fault!"
He glared at Harry. "And if you ever, EVER get me into a mess like this again, I will PERSONALLY kill you. Slowly AND painfully!"
And with a swish of his mud-stained cloak, he pulled himself out of Harry's arms and stalked off into the trees.
Well, that was the plan at least.

---

Draco stood up, planning to strut gracefully back into the forest, and immediately slipped up in the mud and fell flat on his face.
"Urgh." He muttered, sitting up and wiping the mud out of his eyes, "Well there goes the dramatic exit..."
Harry sniggered. "Enjoyed your trip?"
(A/N; Couldn't resist! ^_^)
"Yes, actually, it was the experiance of a lifetime." He answered.
"Y'know, I'm sure this much sarcasm is bad for your health, Draco..."
"Oh shut up, Potter."
"Hey, whatever happened to 'Harry'?"
"Well, seeing as I'm no longer hovering on the brink of a horrible messy death, I don't really see the point."
He paused.
"Plus, I'm angry at you. So there."
Harry sighed. He held out his arm. "Need a hand, Malfoy?"
Draco ignored Harry's outstretched hand and attempted to get up on his own.
Half-way up, his left leg buckled and he fell back heavily.
"Oh shit! My leg!" He hissed, clutching his leg as a jolt of burning pain shot up it.
Harry only just caught him in time as Draco's legs gave way under him.
He collapsed into Harry's arms, admitting defeat. He looked up and glared at him.
"I hate you." He muttered weakly, as though saying it would make it all go away.
Harry laughed softly, holding the blonde Slytherin in his arms, "Hate you too, Draco." He replied with just a hint of affection in his voice that made him slightly nervous despite himself.

--

Draco scowled. "This has got to be one of the worst experiances of my life...My leg feels like someone's hacked it off with an axe..."
He gasped in pain as he tried to stand up again, "I think I must have twisted it or broken it or something..."
Harry gently lowered Draco to the ground and pulled up the hem of his robes to have a look.
"HEY! What are you DOING?!" Draco yelped, slapping Harry's hands away and tugging his robes back down, "Pervert!"
"Don't be so paranoid. I only want to check your ankle!" Harry snapped, folding his arms across his chest, sulking, "But if you don't want me to, I guess I'll just have to leave you here while I go find some help..."
Draco grabbed onto Harry's arm, panicking, "NO! Don't leave me! Those th-things will come back! PLEASE don't leave me!"
Harry's annoyed expression softened at the plain fear in Draco's eyes. He placed a comforting hand on Draco's shoulder, "Hey, it's okay, I didn't mean it. I won't leave you." He said softly.
Draco narrowed his eyes and tried to calm his pounding heart.
"That was low, even for you." He muttered, looking away nervously as he let Harry fold back his robes to about knee-height.

---

Harry tried to stop his hands shaking as he folded Draco's mud-stained Quidditch robes up as high as he dared, which wasn't actually very high...
He was surprised to find that - unlike himself, who always wore jeans underneath his robes - Draco wore only a pair of shorts, or - Harry thought with a smile - just underwear.
Luckily, or unluckily depending on which way you look at it, it was too dark for Harry too be able to see anything beyond Draco's knees.
'Oh gods...he's got great legs...'
And indeed he had, although for the sake of my sanity, and my new shoes, I will refrain from going into sexy detail in case I start dribbling.
Draco hissed in pain as Harry nervously placed a shaking hand onto his injured ankle.
"Careful! That bloody hurt!"
"Sorry..."
Draco looked up nervously, blushing ever so slightly. "Ummm...You DO know what you're doing, don't you?"
Harry shrugged. "More or less."
Funnily enough, Harry's answer didn't exactly set his mind at ease.
Harry prodded gently at Draco's ankle, causing him to start swearing again. It was starting to swell up a little, and had turned a rather sickly purple colour.
It wasn't very pretty, to say the least.
"I think it's just twisted, and it's started to swell up too." Harry explained, blushing as he realised that he'd been stroking Draco's leg ever so slightly as he spoke, "I'm gonna need to put a splint on it."
"With what? We don't have our wands!"
"Oh for Merlin's sake, Draco! It is possible to survive without a wand, you know. Here, keep your leg still a minute..."
Draco watched, interested, as Harry stood up and wandered around the clearing for a few moments, looking for something.
"What are you looking for?" Draco asked, curious.
"Ah-ha!" Was the only answer he got as Harry bent down and picked up a long, fairly thick branch, and four or five smaller sticks too.
He handed Draco the longer branch. "Here, this will make a good crutch, I doubt you'll be able to walk on your own..."
"You could carry me." Draco pointed out, trying to look innocent.
"Nice try, but no chance." Harry laughed, kneeling down beside Draco and arranging the sticks around his lower leg and over his ankle bone.
"This is gonna hurt, isn't it?" Draco muttered.
"Yeah."
Harry pulled up his robes, revealing his jeans, and unbuckled his belt.
"What are you doing now?" Draco asked, looking a little freaked out.
Harry wrapped the belt loosly around the sticks and Draco's ankle. "I'm going to have to tighten this a bit, but not much, seeing as your leg's gonna swell up some more...but it'll still hurt."
Draco just stared. "Your trousers will fall down."
Harry laughed. "So? I'll get some more..."
Draco giggled. It was a rather disturbing sound. "You just gave me a very disturbing image."
"What?"
"You...with no trousers on..." He collapsed into a fit of giggles again.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Is that such a bad image?"
"Well...no....not really..." He blushed.
There was an awkward silence as the two young wizards looked into each others eyes for a moment before blushing and looking away again.
"Ummm...OK...let's see if I remember how to do this..." Harry muttered, distracted by the way Draco was looking at him, the occasioanl droplets of rain that had managed to sneak through the branches above them made his silvery hair stick to his forehead and made him look like he'd just stepped out of a shower. That would distract anyone.
"OK...I'll tighten it on three, OK?"
Draco nodded.
"One...Two..."
Harry yanked the belt.
"OWWWW! Hey, what happened to three?!"
"I would have asked you the same question earlier..." Harry sniggered, "Besides, you would have tensed up on three, I needed your ankle to be relaxed."
Draco snorted. "Typical Griffindor."
"Typical Slytherin." Harry shot back.

---

Draco's leg was hurting like hell, but it didn't seem to matter anymore with Harry looking at him like that.
'His eyes are so pretty. How the hell can they sparkle like that?'
He realised with a shock, that he'd been gazing at Harry with a dreamy expression on his face, and quickly looked away, blushing.
'What the hell is happening to me? I can't be attracted to him...I just CAN'T! I'm a Malfoy for Merlin's sake! We haven't had one of..them..in the family for decades! Oh fuck this is bad...Father's gonna go nuts! No, wait, he doesn't have to know...No one has to know... After all, he couldn't like me back...not Potter. Bah, of course 'perfect' Potter wouldn't be attracted to someone like me...He's probably not even gay.
Oh gods, I'm gay...I'm fucking gay! Oh shit...'
His concentration was broken suddenly as he felt the warth of Harry's hand on his shoulder.
"Are you OK? You look...distant. Are you cold?" Harry asked, looking almost concerned.
Draco's head snapped up suddenly at the sound of Harry's voice. He sounded worried.
'No...he's not worried about me, he's just scared he'll get the blame for it if I suddenly keel over...not like anyone would ever blame HIM for anything though...'
"Hmm?"
"I said; Are you OK?" Harry repeated.
"What? Oh...yeah...Apart from the fact that I feel like I've been trampled by a herd of Hippogriffs."
He shivered. "And I'm cold."
Harry smiled, and took his cloak off, wrapping it carefully around Draco's shoulders. "Better?"
Harry seemed to have overlooked the fact that his cloak was dripping wet and just as cold.
Luckily, Draco was too preocupied with the fact that Harry had even offered it to notice that it made him shiver even more.
He smiled, a rare and strangely beautiful sight. "Much better, thanks, Harry."
They stared into each others eyes for a moment, again.
'Oh my god, those lips look so kissable...I wonder what it would be like to - No...Don't even go there...'
Everything else seemed to fade out as Harry felt himself lean in towards Draco, towards those soft, tantalising lips, just a shade darker than the rest of his skin.
'OK then...Look's like I'm going there...'
Draco felt his breath catch in his throat. Why was Harry looking at him like that?
'What...But he...Could he...Is he...? Oh shit...'
He felt himself start to lean in towards Harry. In a moment their lips would touch.

~TBC~

Wow, this chapter was a little longer than I thought it was going to be...I hope you like it.
Am I straying from the plot? Hang on...What WAS the plot? Draco's fallen off his broom...Harry saved him...*counts plot stages off on fingers*
There's not much left to do!
Any suggestions?